Techniques Change

                My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some harmless soul; let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse”— my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. (Proverbs 1:10-17) 

          I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone suggest to me that we should do the kinds of things listed. It might be because I’m female, but I doubt it. Probably, it has more to do with my having spent my life living more in my head than out in the world. A third factor, of course, is that we supposedly live in a more civilized world. That tends to mean that we don’t talk about lying in wait for someone’s blood. 
          Instead, we lie in wait for someone’s money, dignity, or personal information, claiming that what we’re doing isn’t entirely unethical, and teaching others to lie to get what is sought. I don’t pull those examples out of my imagination. I have heard members of management say those things. The desired result is the same: money and power. It’s so much easier to take from people who submit than to those who might fight back.
          Plain and simple, the sort of people described above are the sort of people we should avoid. Scripture tells us a lot about avoiding people who will get us into trouble. It’s far too easy to get trapped by such people, to become like them, and then to have to pay the price for not only our folly, but theirs as well.